Rebel Wilson 'Deeply Sorry' for Plus-Size Self-Promotion

Rebel Wilson arrives at the InStyle Awards at the Getty Center on Oct. 22, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)Rebel Wilson arrives at the InStyle Awards at the Getty Center on Oct. 22, 2018, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

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Rebel Wilson is making the rounds to promote her upcoming rom-com Isn't It Romantic, but she had less than perfect pitch on Ellen DeGeneres' show last week. Per HuffPost, the Australian actress told DeGeneres she's glad Hollywood is starting to see less-stereotypical roles for plus-size actors, and that "I'm proud to be the first-ever [plus-size] girl to be the star of a romantic comedy." Which may have been a simple bit of self-promotion, except for the fact there have actually been other plus-size women to star in such movies, including Mo'Nique and Queen Latifah, as one Twitter user pointed out. Yet Wilson tweeted back that it was somewhat of a "grey area," splitting hairs on whether the movies those actresses had starred in fell under the "studio rom-com with sole lead" category, and whether the actresses had actually been plus-size during filming.

Making things worse, per Monique Judge on the Root: Wilson seemed to only respond to white women who corrected her on Twitter, while blocking black women who did so (the Daily Dot notes a #RebelWilsonBlockedMe hashtag emerged). Mo'Nique herself responded, tweeting: "Take a moment and know the history. DON'T BE A PART OF ERASING IT." Wilson issued an apology, per the Sydney Morning Herald, noting that "in a couple of well-intentioned moments ... I neglected to show the proper respect to those who climbed this mountain before me like Mo'Nique, Queen Latifah, Melissa McCarthy, Ricki Lake, and likely many others." As for the Twitter blocking, she said it was "because I was hurting from the criticism, but those are the people I actually need to hear from more, not less. Again, I am deeply sorry." (Wilson had a record defamation payout—and then didn't.)

She may not be the first plus-sized lead in a romantic comedy, but she IS the first fat lead who looks like a dude.

Tom Thomson

Nov 7, 2018 5:33 AM CST

Here's some fodder for our resident punsters - citations from her Wikipedia article. "She completed her Higher School Certificate in 1997, including second place in the state in food technology." "'I was very academic at high school and was always good with numbers.'" "She has spoken of malaria-induced hallucinations." "Wilson is most known for her roles as Toula on the SBS comedy series Pizza [and its spin-off movie Fat Pizza]..."